---
title: In the meantime the boy got up and began to talk to them, and ask th… — The Red Fairy Book · tree and pragmatics
description: In the meantime the boy got up and began to talk to them, and ask them if they did not want a man-servant, for he could find pleasure enough in serving them. Who acts: boy, robbers. A sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Master Thief, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of ev
---

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# The Red Fairy Book, The Master Thief, sentence 28

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In the meantime the boy got up and began to talk to them, and ask them if they did not want a man-servant, for he could find pleasure enough in serving them.

<!-- .vintro -->
**Who acts:** boy, robbers · **What happens:** get up, begin, talk, ask, not want, find · **To what, where:** meantime, robbers, man servant, pleasure

<!-- .vabout -->
This is a sentence of «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, The Master Thief. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (boy, robbers), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

<!-- .note-en -->
**Parsed by Mova, not checked by a teacher.** This tree is Mova's own parse (the `en` model, on the CPU, when the site is built); it may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg540:9:28
# text = In the meantime the boy got up and began to talk to them, and ask them if they did not want a man-servant, for he could find pleasure enough in serving them.
1	In	in	ADP	IN	_	3	case	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	meantime	meantime	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obl	_	_
4	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	5	det	_	_
5	boy	boy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	got	get	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
7	up	up	ADP	RP	_	6	compound:prt	_	_
8	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	began	begin	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	6	conj	_	_
10	to	to	PART	TO	_	11	mark	_	_
11	talk	talk	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	xcomp	_	_
12	to	to	ADP	IN	_	13	case	_	_
13	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	11	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
14	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	16	punct	_	_
15	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	16	cc	_	_
16	ask	ask	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	6	parataxis	_	_
17	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	16	obj	_	_
18	if	if	SCONJ	IN	_	22	mark	_	_
19	they	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	22	nsubj	_	_
20	did	do	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	22	aux	_	_
21	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	22	advmod	_	_
22	want	want	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	16	ccomp	_	_
23	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	26	det	_	_
24	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	26	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	24	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
26	servant	servant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	22	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
27	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	31	punct	_	_
28	for	for	SCONJ	IN	_	31	mark	_	_
29	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	31	nsubj	_	_
30	could	could	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	31	aux	_	_
31	find	find	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	22	conj	_	_
32	pleasure	pleasure	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	31	obj	_	_
33	enough	enough	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	31	obj	_	_
34	in	in	SCONJ	IN	_	35	mark	_	_
35	serving	serve	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	31	advcl	_	_
36	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	35	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
37	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **get up** | past | the boy |  |  | the meantime |  |  | vn comprehend-87.2-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Experiencer |
| 2 | **begin** | past | the boy *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn begin-55.1-1-1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 3 | **talk** | to-infinitive | the boy *not said here* |  | robbers *= robber* |  |  |  | vn talk-37.5 «NP V PP.co-agent»: agent=Agent to they=Co-Agent |
| 4 | **ask** *speech: ask* | infinitive |  |  | robbers *= robber* |  |  |  | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V NP whether S»: agent=Agent they=Recipient clause=Topic |
| 5 | **not** **want** *a condition, not said to happen* | past · do-support | robbers *= robber* | a man servant |  |  |  |  | vn want-32.1-1-1 «NP V NP ADV»: agent=Pivot servant=Theme |
| 6 | **find** | could | boy | pleasure |  |  |  |  | vn declare-29.4-1-1 «NP V NP ADJ»: agent=Agent pleasure=Theme enough=Attribute |
| 7 | **serve** | gerund | boy *not said here* | robbers *= robber* |  |  |  |  | vn masquerade-29.6-2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent they=Attribute |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

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**Text:** «The Red Fairy Book» by Andrew Lang, Project Gutenberg book 540 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

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